Hydraulic press for the molding of tiles and plates of ceramic or like materials

ABSTRACT

A hydraulic press for the molding of tiles or like materials, comprising a horizontal base, to which a fore stationary bed and a rear stationary bed are firmly connected; two horizontally extending cylindrical rods or columns, parallel with each other, secured by their both ends to said beds and designed to serve as a support and a guide for a first cross-member, to which punch means are connected, and a second cross-member, carrying the die by which the side edges of the piece to be pressed are defined. There are vertical duct means formed in said second cross-member, whereby to feed the paste to be pressed, at the right time, into the bottom die cavity. The die means includes a body by which the punches are supported. The body is connected with the rear stationary bed and includes the die-carrying cross-member, along with the punch-carrying cross-member. Programmed memory control means actuates the various press elements in proper sequence.

United States Patent [191 Bettonica Dec. 2, 1975 [76] Inventor: Luigi Bettonica, Via Clusone, 3,

Milan, Italy [22] Filed: July 23, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 491,150

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 17, 1973 Italy t. 27946/73 [52] US. Cl. 425/167; 425/242; 425/247;

425/352 [51] Int. Cl. B29F 1/00; B29F 1/06 [58] Field of Search 425/167, 242 R, 245, 246,

3,830,614 8/1974 Kurtz 425/242 R Primary Examiner-J. Howard Flint, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or FirmYoung & Thompson [57] ABSTRACT A hydraulic press for the molding of tiles or like materials, comprising a horizontal base, to which a fore stationary bed and a rear stationary bed are firmly connected; two horizontally extending cylindrical rods or columns, parallel with each other, secured by their both ends to said beds and designed to serve as a support and a guide for a first cross-member, to which punch means are connected, and a second crossmember, carrying the die by which the side edges of the piece to be pressed are defined. There are vertical duct means formed in said, second cross-member, whereby to feed the paste to be pressed, at the right time, into the bottom die cavity. The die means includes a body by which the punches are supported. The body is connected with the rear stationary bed and includes the die-carrying cross-member, along with the punch-carrying cross-member. Programmed memory control means actuates the various press elements in proper sequence,

4 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures Sheet 1 of 3 Dec. 2, 1975 O0 000 CO US. Patent US, Patsnt Dec. 2, 1975 Sheet 2 0'53 3,923,440

Patst Dec. 2, 1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,923,440

Z 3 33 37? 9 an 24 30 HYDRAULIC PRESS FOR THE MOLDING OF TILES AND PLATES OF CERAMIC OR LIKE MATERIALS This invention concerns a horizontal press for the molding of tiles or like materials.

For the molding of tiles recourse is usually made to vertical presses, equipped with a die, having one or more cavities or cells formed therein, and with as many pairs of punches as said cavities are, which punches, acting in opposite directions, are designed to press the green ceramic or like material, with which same cavities are previously filled by an expressly provided automatic feeder, associated with a hopper.

Two purposes are essentially to be fulfilled by the compaction of material into the die cavities, i.e. firstly to have all, or nearly all air included in the paste driven out therefrom, ensuring at the same time the required homogeneisation, with consequent increase in the plasticity of compacted paste; and then to confer the due consistenty to the shaped piece, which can be obtained by tightly pressing and compacting the particles by which the piece is composed.

The feeding of paste into the die cavities, the precompaction for driving the included air out of the paste, and the final, high-pressure compaction to confer the proper consistency and shape to green piece, are usually performed in at least three subsequent steps, synchronized by suitable electronic equipment and by hydraulic servocontrols. Such operations are rather time-consuming, due to fairly long travels that are to be covered by the different movable components, which results in a material increase in the prime costs.

For the making of plates, potters wheels are utilized, instead of vertical or horizontal presses, to have the plastic ceramic paste duly shaped.

As already well known, the latter equipment comprises: a cutting machine, by which round pieces are cut from the clay column; a rotary feeder whereon said pieces are manually laid, and by which they are transferred into gypsum molds, previously laid by hand on the throwing heads of the potters wheel.

Once the required amount of paste is placed into said molds, the throwing heads are automatically positioned under the upper rotary head, and the molding operation is performed through its swinging motion.

Then, the gypsum mold and the fresh molded plate are manually transferred into a drying oven.

As it can be readily appreciated, the above procedure is time-consuming and requires much labor, which resuit in large increases in the prime costs. Moreover, the gypsum molds have a short useful life, and are to be discarded and renewed after a given number of molding operations.

By the press according to the invention, the hereinafter stated purposes are attained:

1. Elimination of idle times accumulated by the different movable components on the tile-molding vertical presses, simplifying also the design of the machine and minimizing the operating troubles.

2, To allow for a vertical filling of the die, and in par ticular of plates to be shaped, since all attempts to have horizontal dies fitted on vertical presses have lead to negative results.

3. To allow for the making of plates by the use of already well known tile-making technology, thereby materially abating the present costs.

Thus, the main object of this invention consists in the provision of an improved horizontal press, for the making of tiles and plates of ceramic and like materials, and wherein all operations, from the filling of the die to the ejection of the green pressed piece, as well as to bringing of different operating components of the machine back to their starting positions, are automatically performed in a pro-established sequence.

The horizontal press for the making of tiles and like material, according to this invention, essentially comprises a horizontal base, to which a fore stationary bed, and a rear stationary bed are firmly connected; two horizontally extending, cylindrical guide columns, parallel to the horizontal base, secured by their both ends to said beds and designed to serve as a support and a guide for a first cross-member, to which the operating punch is connected. Included is a second crossmember, carrying the die by which the side edges ofthe piece to be pressed are defined. There are vertical duct means formed in said second cross-member, whereby to feed the material to be pressed, at the right time, into the die cavities, while the punches, by which the die bottom is formed, are supported by a body firmly connected to rear stationary bed.

Conventional, programmed memory means actuate the various press elements in the desired sequence.

For a better understanding of the horizontal press for the making of tiles and like materials, according to this invention, a preferred embodiment form thereof will be hereinafter disclosed in more detail, with reference to accompanying drawings, both description and drawings given as a non restrictive example only. lnsame drawmgs:

FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are general views of horizontal press.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged longitudinal section, taken on a plane perpendicular to base plane, of horizontal press according to the invention, showing the assembly of operating member by which same press is characterized.

FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 show, in a diagrammatic and substantially simplified way, the positions which are taken by the operating components, as shown in the FIG. 4, in the successive working steps of the press ac cording to the invention.

All similar, or similarly acting components are denoted, in all the above figures, by the same reference numerals.

The horizontal press according to this invention, and as shown in the FIGS. 1 to 4 inclusive, comprises a horizontal base 1, to which a fore stationary bed 2 and a rear stationary bed 3 are firmly secured two horizontally extending, cylindrical guide columns 4 and 5 (see FIG. 3), parallel with the horizontal base 1. On this base are slidingly fitted: a first cross-member 6, to which the operating punch '7 is connected, and a second cross-member 9, carrying the die by which the lateral sides of piece to be pressed are formed.

A vertical duct 8, topped by a hopper 8', has its outlet in the die cavity, to allow for the feeding the mate rial to be ressed thereinto.

Firmly connected with the stationary rear bed is the body 11, ending by the punch 10, designed to form the bottom of die cavity, and that can be inserted thereinto.

Fast with the stationary fore bed 2 is a cylinder 15, wherein a double-acting piston 16 is slidingly fitted, such piston operated by a pressure fluid, that can be fed to said cylinder either through the duct 17, or through the duct 18, depending on whether the piston is to be moved forward or backward, along with the first crossmember 6, carrying the operating punch. Inserted into the bottom of cylinder is a single-acting, adjustable hydraulic jack 19, by which the operating punch 7 can be properly positioned for the die filling operation. The die filling volume can be adjusted according to the stroke of jack 19. Fast with same stationary fore bed 2,

are moreover:

a. Two hydraulic jacks, denoted by 20 and 20, having which pistons 21-21. The second cross member 9 is simultaneously acted upon through the piston rods 22-22, that are slidingly guided in the holes in the punch-carrying first cross-member 6. At the end of each working cycle, the jacks acutate piston rods 22-22 so as to strip the pressed pieces from the die, see FIGS. 9-10.

b. Two single-acting hydraulic jacks, denoted by 24 and 24 respectively having pistons 25-25. The second cross-member 9 is simultaneously acted upon through the piston rods 26-26, that are slidingly guided in the holes as formed in the first punch-carrying first crossmember 6. The fore ends of said rods 26-26 are fitted with screw means 27-27, whereby to accurately adjust the die motions, via said jacks 24,24 designed to position the die for the final pressing operations.

c. Two single-acting hydraulic jacks 30-30 with controlled strokes by which pistons 31-31 control the position of cross-member 6, whereby to allow for the stripping of pressed piece.

Fast with the stationary rear bed 3 are:

d. Two single-acting hydraulic jacks with controlled stroke, denoted by 33 and 33 respectively, have pistons 34-34. The second cross-member 9 (defining the side surfaces of die) is simultaneously acted upon for the abutting of t he die at the beginning of the cycle. The piston heads are fitted with screw means for the accurate adjustment of the die motions.

e. Two hydraulic sp rings, denoted by 36 and 36, respectively, and by which the second cross-member 9 is simultaneously contini ously drawn toward the bed 3.

f. Two donkey single-acting hydraulic jacks with controlled stroke, denoted by 37 and 37 respectively, that are operated simultaneously with jacks 33,33 (and for purposes similar to those of latter jacks), thus positioning the die for the filling operation thereof.

All jacks (20-20, 24-24, 30-30, 33-33, 37-37) are operated by feeding a pressure fluid (usually pressure oil) thereto through suitable ducts, as clearly shown in the FIG. 4. Electromagnetically controlled hydraulic valves, that are operated by control pulses (or informations) coming from a pre-setting device (or memory) preferably of the electronic type, already well known and widely utilized on many automatized tool machines, are utilized for the feeding, the flow adjustment and the interception of said hydraulic fluid.

The operation of press according to this invention can be clearly understood by merely perusing the FIG.

4, with the possible help of FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, wherein the position taken by the different components in the successive operating steps of machine are diagrammatically shown. The inoperative jacks are shown by broken lines, while the operating jacks are shown by solid lines.

After having pre-set the different components as shown in the figures 4 and 5, the operating punch 7 is advanced until the opening of die is closed by it (see FIG. 6). Then the cross-member 9 is advanced bringing the space between the punches 7 and 10 in coincidence with the duct as formed in the cross-member 9 (see FIG. 7). Under such conditions, the paste can flow into said space and can fill it. Then, by keeping both the punch 10 and the die still, the punch 7 is advanced, thus pressing said paste (see FIG. 8).

The cross-member 9 is then brought back, keeping the punches 7 and 10 between which the pressed piece is retained at rest, (see FIG. 9), whereupon the operating punch 7 is also moved backwardly, thereby leaving the pressed piece free and allowing it to be collected into a suitable container (see FIG. 10).

I claim:

1. A press for the making of tiles and like material, comprising: a horizontal base to which a fore stationary bed, and a rear stationary bed are firmly secured; first operating punch means, die means and two horizontally extending, cylindrical guide columns parallel with the horizontal base having their both ends fastened to said stationary bed, a first cross-member with which the operating punch means is connected, a second crossmember bearing the die means, vertical duct means through which the material to be pressed is allowed to flow into the die means, a body firmly secured to the stationary rear bed, second punch means by which the bottom of the die means is formed; and programmed memory control means for the press.

2. A press for the making of tiles and like material ac= cording to claim 1, wherein fast with the stationary fore bed is a cylinder with a double=scting piston slidingly fitted therein, the free end of said piston connected with the first cross-member which carries the operating punch means, and an adjustable hydraulic jack inserted into the bottom of said cylinder whereby the operating punch means is accurately positioned before the die= filling operation.

3. A press for the making of tiles and like material according to claim 1 wherein fast with the stationary fore bed are: (a) two hydraulic jacks having pistons de= signed to act on the first cross=rnernber carrying the operating punch; (b) two hydraulic jacks which pistons are designed to act on the second, dic=carrying cross= member and (c) two hydraulic jacks having pistons de= signed to act on the first cross=rnernber whereby to allow for the stripping of pressed piece.

4. A press for the making of tiles and like material ae= cording to claim 1, two springs secured to said stetion= ary rear bed wherein fast with the stationary rear bed are at least two hydraulic jacks whose pistons are de= signed to act on the rear side of the second cross= member in opposition to the action of the two springs.

r r a ale s 

1. A press for the making of tiles and like material, comprising: a horizontal base to which a fore stationary bed, and a rear stationary bed are firmly secured; first operating punch means, die means and two horizontally extending, cylindrical guide columns parallel with the horizontal base having their both ends fastened to said stationary bed, a first cross-member with which the operating punch means is connected, a second crossmember bearing the die means, vertical duct means through which the material to be pressed is allowed to flow into the die means, a body firmly secured to the stationary rear bed, second punch means by which the bottom of the die means is formed; and programmed memory control means for the press.
 2. A press for the making of tiles and like material according to claim 1, wherein fast with the stationary fore bed is a cylinder with a double-acting piston slidingly fitted therein, the free end of said piston connected with the first cross-member which carries the operating punch means, and an adjustable hydraulic jack inserted into the bottom of said cylinder whereby the operating punch means is accurately positioned before the die-filling operation.
 3. A press for the making of tiles and like material according to claim 1 wherein fast with the stationary fore bed are: (a) two hydraulic jacks having pistons designed to act on the first cross-member carrying the operating punch; (b) two hydraulic jacks which pistons are designed to act on the second, die-carrying cross-member and (c) two hydraulic jacks having pistons designed to act on the first cross-member whereby to allow for the stripping of pressed piece.
 4. A press for the making of tiles and like material according to claim 1, two springs secured to said stationary rear bed wherein fast with the stationary rear bed are at least two hydraulic jacks whose pistons are designed to act on the rear side of the second cross-member in opposition to the action of the two springs. 